Sunday, January 29, 2012

China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know

CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiAUTHOR’S NOTE xivMAP xviii PART I: HISTORICAL LEGACIES1 Schools of Thought 1Who was Confucius? 1What were Confucius’s core ideas? 2What was his political vision? 2How important was history to Confucius? 3Has Confucius always been venerated in China? 4Was Confucius celebrated in his own times? 5When did the ideas of Confucius gain influence? 7How was Confucius viewed a century ago? 8Is Confucianism a religion? 9How has Confucius fared since 1949? 10 11Why is Confucius back in favor? 13How exactly is the new regime using Confucius?Did Confucianism hinder imperial China’s economic development? 14Does China have an indigenous “democratic” tradition? 16What is the Chinese term for democracy andwhat exactly does it mean? 172 Imperial China 19What were the main early dynasties? 19How did dynasties rule? 20What was the “dynastic cycle”? 21 22What were the political implications of this cyclical view?Were all dynasties the same? 22How did dynasties interact with foreign countries? 24What was the Opium War? 25Why did the Qing Dynasty fall? 26What internal developments weakened the Qing? 27What was the significance of peasant rebellions? 27 28What impact did the Opium War have?What was the Taiping Uprising? 29Why was the 1894–1895 War with Japan so important? 30What was the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901)? 30How has this crisis been misunderstood? 31 32How does the reputation of the crisis differ in China?Why does this difference in views of the Boxers matter? 32How did Qing rule finally end? 33Is the Chinese Communist Party a new dynasty? 343 Revolutions and Revolutionaries 36Who was Sun Yat-sen? 36What happened to Sun after he became president? 37What was the “Warlord era”? 37What was the May 4th movement? 38Who was the most important radical writer of the May 4th era? 39How does the Communist Party view the May 4th era? 41Why was the example of the Russian Revolution so important? 42 42What was the First United Front?Why was the May 30th movement important? 43What was the Northern Expedition? 43Who was Chiang Kai-shek? 44What was the Long March? 45What was the Rape of Nanjing? 46How did the Communists beat the Nationalists? 47What role have mass campaigns played inthe People’s Republic of China? 49 50What were some important early mass campaigns?What was the Resist America, Support Korea campaign? 51What was the Hundred Flowers campaign? 52 53What happened during the Anti-Rightist campaign?What sort of people were Mao and his main allies? 53How were Mao’s writings viewed? 55What was the Great Leap Forward? 56What was the Cultural Revolution? 57What was the Gang of Four? 59Why hasn’t Mao been repudiated by China’s current leaders? 59What is the alternative to viewing Mao as a monster? 61Is Mao seen in China as someone who made errors? 62How do ordinary Chinese feel about Mao? 63 PART II: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE4 From Mao to Now 67Who was Deng Xiaoping? 67Who were Deng’s successors? 69What exactly did Deng do? 69How is Deng viewed now? 70What was the Democracy Wall movement? 71 72What is the real story of the Tiananmen Uprising?Why hasn’t the Chinese government changed its line on Tiananmen? 75What effect did the fall of other Communist governments have on China? 76How did China’s rulers avoid falling prey to the “Leninist extinction”? 78How has the government responded to protests since 1989? 80Why and how has the CCP suppressed the Falun Gong movement? 81Who are the Chinese dissidents now? 82 84What is the role of the Internet in political dissent?What does the digital divide mean in China? 85Why were the 2008 Olympics such a big deal for China? 86What was unusual about China’s preparations for the 2008 Olympics? 87What does the handling of the Olympics say about today’s China? 88Will grand spectacles continue to be important to China? 91Why hold an Expo so soon after the Olympics? 91What is the “One-Child Family” policy? 93Was female infanticide encouraged to help limit population size? 95Is contemporary China utterly unique? 96What does China have in common with other countries? 98Is the Great Firewall of China a unique structure? 1005 U.S.–China Misunderstandings 103What is the most common thing Americans get wrong about China? 103Why is China’s diversity overlooked? 104How does ethnicity come into the picture? 105How important are regional divides? 106How important are age divides in China? 107Is China still truly an atheist state? 108Is China a Big Brother state? 109What is the biggest source of Chinese misunderstanding ofthe United States? 112How do U.S. and Chinese views on Tibet differ? 1136 The Future 116Is China bent on world domination? 116How likely is a war with Taiwan? 118Will China become the world’s dominant economic power? 120Will China, long thought of as a land of villages,soon be a land of cities? 121Is China likely to become a democracy? 123How powerful is Chinese nationalism? 123What kind of government will China have in a decade? 125What big challenges lie ahead for the CCP? 126What big issues relating to the environment and energydoes China face? 127Why is endemic corruption such a serious problem? 129How can the United States and China adjust to an era in whichthey are the two superpowers? 131What other kinds of things do China and the United Stateshave in common? 133Is this an argument for Americans to refrain fromall criticism of China? 134NOTES 137FURTHER READING 147INDEX 157